Lew Gervais' Newsletter

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GervaisNews August 2010

August 24, 2010

Dear friends,
I just noticed that the last time I wrote a newsletter and published it on our web site was way back in March. That is simply not acceptable. I need to keep you more up to date as to what is happening in the Gervais household and in the ministry. Let me reverse and bring you up to speed:
The beginning of Barb and Mikala's summer vacation found the three of us flying out to California for a two week vacation. We have good friends who own a ranch out there and they keep inviting us to go out and spend time with them…go figure! They have toys that we can play with like four wheelers, a dirt bike, horses to ride, etc. We usually have plenty of fun out there and plenty of down time as well. I had the experience of branding a few steers but I absolutely refused to castrate the bulls. I have limits you know. I usually spend my first few days going through withdrawals because my phone doesn’t get reception out there unless I climb up a mountain and stand on a huge rock and even then I only have one bar at best so I usually end up dropping calls in the middle of my conversation. We had a blast out there for the two weeks we were there. I was able to cross out one thing from my bucket list. Since I was a little kid I have always wanted to fly in a glider. I did get to fly the glider and I loved it. The pilot sat behind me and he controlled the plane on take off and when we landed but he gave me full control the rest of the time...dangerous thing to put his life in my inexperienced hands. That was probably the fastest half hour I have ever experienced but it was well worth it. Now I have to get up the courage for the next thing on my bucket list, and that is to jump out of a perfectly good airplane with a parachute strapped to my back. I will leave that for another day when I can muster up the courage or just become insane enough to do it.
We returned to Florida and I only had one day at home before I had to fly up to New Hampshire to do some teaching up at His Mansion. I always enjoy my time up there and this summer was no exception. I usually work hard while at His Mansion but I always come home refreshed and energized. When I came home the Gervais “Bed and Breakfast” was already open for business. I actually flew home with my two nephews from Connecticut who came to spend the summer with us in Florida. They occupied one of our rooms and several other families came to Florida to occupy the other room. It is a good thing Barb doesn’t get stressed when people come to stay with us. She simply shows them where everything is in the kitchen and says they can prepare and eat whatever they want, and then she leaves the kitchen to them. No stress and no pressure for her. When our guests get hungry they take care of themselves. Micah came home a few times over the summer to see his room occupied so he ended up sleeping at his cousin’s house for his weekend visits. The headcount for visitors so far this summer is over 30 people. Several times we had one set of friends leaving in the morning and the next set arriving that afternoon. I hope you don't get the impression that I am complaining. I love having friends visiting with us even through our hectic lifestyle can't slow down when there are here.
Mikala has been keeping herself very busy this summer. She is working for the city of Viera teaching swimming at one of their pools, then she comes to our house and gives private lesions in our pool to another half dozen or more kids.
Barb has been working on her master’s degree (on line) and she is plugging away throughout the summer. She should wrap that up by December if all goes well. We are planning a trip to the Grand Canyon University for her graduation whenever they do it.
God has been doing some good things ministry wise. The ministry house is now full to capacity for the time being. There are three men in there and I am leading a bible study at the house for addicts. I have also opened that meeting up to male and female addicts that I have or are ministering to at Hope and who are in recovery. I have so enjoyed leading that study. Some of the people coming are brand new Christians, and some are still searching. I love it.
I have had the honor of leading several facilitator training seminars. There are several churches south of here who want to start their own recovery ministry so I will be helping them get their ministries up and running.
I was in my office the other day and started thinking about my normal daily schedule. I then realized that I have remained very busy for many years ministering to the addicted and I have never needed to advertise. People somehow find my phone number and call for help. My name and phone number must be scratched on some wall in the hood somewhere. It is probably a good thing I don’t try to advertise or I might have way more work then I bargained for. I guess this is job security so I shouldn’t complain. A few years ago four out of five people coming to see me for help were there for a crack cocaine or alcohol addiction but now almost everyone coming into my office are there for a an addiction to pain medications. And their ages span anywhere from 18 to 88. It is a growing epidemic and I know that I am only seeing the tip of the iceberg. In the early 80’s Crack cocaine hit the US like a fire in a windstorm, then in the early 90’s it was meth and meth labs that took the country by storm, but now it is prescription pain medication that is wreaking havoc throughout the United States. However the difference is that with crack and meth it is mostly young people getting hooked but now with pain pills everyone can become a victim of this terrible epidemic. Many of the younger people addicted have had to revert to crushing the pills so that the full effect can be reached instantaneously. Many are reducing the powder to a liquid and shooting it into their veins. There are people dying every day from pain pill overdoses. We need to pray for our country. We have raised a whole population of people who will quickly take a pill…any pill if it will take away their perceived pain along with any negative emotions they might be wrestling with. Most people don't have a clue how easily they can overdose and die from these pain pills. It might mean job security for me but it spells out misery and disaster for thousands of families all around us.
I am going to leave you with one picture to ponder. Last weekend I was driving my motorcycle to Rockledge to teach on addictions at a seminar and I was bringing my notebook because I usually use PowerPoint whenever I teach. I had used a bungee cord to secure the bag to the back of my bike...or so I thought. I was flying down the highway at 70 plus MPH when someone pulled up along side me and told me I had lost my bag. It was too late to turn around so I proceeded to the seminar without my bag. It is a good thing I had emailed the PowerPoint the day before so I was able to teach without delay. After the seminar I returned to the spot where my computer bag decided to fly through the air and picked up the pieces. I picked up what was left of my computer. Oh well, this was one costly lesson that I am know I will not need to learn again. From now on anything I carry on my bike will either be strapped to my back or securely padlocked to my bike.

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